Fall from Grace
by kingxana0
Summary: I tried to be a Hero. I found that it is much easier to just be the Villain.
1. Start of Darkness

((I do not own RWBY. Nor will I ever own RWBY. Comments are always appreciated))

I let out a short breath and walked toward the place I had asked to meet Cardin. Right on the edge of the school, where the waterfall fell. He was there, waiting for me with his arms crossed.

"Well, why did you call me out here Arc?" he sneered at me. "Did you get the shit I wanted done?"

It said a lot about the person I was that some part of me was still screaming at him to run. "No, I didn't" I answered, my voice was cold to my ears.

"And why is that?" he asked, anger blazing through his voice. "If the papers aren't done by tomorrow I am going to get my ass chewed out."

I walked over, standing face to face with him. "I..don't think that will be a problem"

He shoved me. "Who told you to think?"

I looked at him for a moment, thinking about what I was going to do. Part of me wanted to turn back, to stop this while there was still time.

But the part of me that wanted this was a lot stronger, and it wouldn't be denied. I pulled free my blade from the sheath and plunged it into his stomach, twisting the blade. "It won't be a problem, because you aren't going to class tomorrow" I pulled free my blade and he dropped to the ground, a hand over the blade wound.

"Wha…what the hell?" he breathed, looking up at me with fear in his eyes.

"I don't know, ask when you get there" I slashed again, my blade plunging into the side of his neck and cutting clean through to the other side, sending his head rolling free. I stepped away from the body, dropping my blood soaked blade and looking at my hands.

"Bravo, Bravo, Encore, Encore!" I heard a clap from the darkness as Vale's number one criminal Roman Torchwick walked out of the shadows. He walked over to the body and bent over, looking at it. "Kidding of course, he is quite obviously dead" he straightened out and looked at me. "So I am guessing you accept my offer?"

I gave him a nod, looking him in the eyes for a moment. "I don't have what it takes to be a hero, I never did" I felt a mad smile come to my lips. "I am tired of waking in the shadow of my family, I want to be free"

Roman laughed and walked over, clapping me on the back. "Freedom is the first thing I offer my boy" he put his fingers to his lips and blew out a whistle, summoning two more figures from the shadows. One of them was a tall man with bright red hair and a mask that covered his eyes. The other was a woman, whose body seemed to be covered by the shadows of the night. "Adam, ditch the body, Crimson get the transport ready"

The man picked up the body and carried it to the edge, tossing it over with ease. I followed after him tossing both my sword and shield down after him.

I was never cut out to be a hero. Heroes don't lie, they don't cheat, and they don't help people because of blackmail.

So if I couldn't be a hero.

At least I could leave my mark on this world as a villain.


	2. Deadly Training

I looked around the pitch black arena I had been thrown in, throwing up my Aura around me to protect myself from that which hid in it.

It had been three full weeks since I left Beacon, and for every day of that time I had been been training with one of my three "Teachers."

Roman taught me about the underworld and how it ran. He taught me what contacts I would need, what weapons I could sell on the streets and which I kept for myself, which cops could be bought off and which I would need to threaten or just kill. His lessons took the longest to get used too, because no matter how hard I tried that nagging moral voice in the back of my head kept trying to make me feel some level of guilt for my actions.

Lessons with Crimson were a bit more pleasant, and lot easier to digest. She taught me how to control my Aura, how to shape it into a weapon and how to channel Dust through it to create spells. Due to my large Aura control was the main thing we would work on. While I attuned my Aura she would tell me about the Grimm, how they were the creatures that existed before light touched the Earth, and how all creatures that called the light their home were invaders upon property that belonged to the Grimm. She was kind of crazy, but she could also be kind. It just took time for her to 'warm up' to you. I once told her that pun and ended up getting fire blasted for it. But I think I detected the hint of something that might have been a smile.

And then there was sparring practice with Adam. Which brings me back to the present moment. After throwing away my Shield and Sword Adam told me I would have to earn the creation of a new weapon. Apparently the only way to earn a weapon was by landing a blow on him. Which was easier said then done, he was faster then me by a fair amount, and that didn't even count in the night vision he seemed to possess.

I heard the beat of someone running toward me and quickly jumped out of the way, narrowly avoiding Adam's blade. "So you are finally learning to use your ears instead of your eyes" his voice rang out over the underground arena.

"I guess your lessons are paying off," I smiled, breathing heavily. In our first match he hadn't even used his sword, instead he had just beat him down with one arm. But now that I had a more firm grip on my Aura I had removed the armored bits of my clothing and had changed to an all black outfit. You had to dress the part after all.

"Don't get cocky," he snarled, charging at me from the front this time. I raised my arms in front of me as he rained a series of blows at me. My Aura absorbed each hit from the blade causing my own body to weaken from the strain. He delivered a kick to my stomach that sent me flying back, holding my gut. That was bad, a direct hit meant my Aura was running low. "Look at you" Adam sneered. "You make these grand dreams, and you chase after them like an idiot knowing you don't have the strength to back it up"

My hands tightened into fists as I pulled myself up, glaring at the red haired Faunus. "And what is that suppose to mean?"

The man grinned, as if he had been waiting to hear that question. "Look at yourself, you abandoned your friends, your dreams, everything to follow a madman who dreams of destroying the entire world." he laughed. "How far you have fallen"

Those words awoke an emotion I rarely felt and sent it to the surface. Rage. Who was he to say any of that? He didn't know shit about me or what I had been through. I let out a low and predatory growl at him. "Shut the hell up"

"Oh, does the little traitor not like the truth" he grinned, motioning for me to come at him. "Then make me quiet down"

I roared and charged at him, my Aura blazing around me in a way I had never felt before. With a speed I had never known before I attacked with everything I had. He was forced to go into retreat and full defense to stop my attacks from landing. "Whats wrong?" I mocked in a voice that sounded nothing like my own. "I thought I was weak and pathetic!" I grabbed his blade in my hand and slammed my fist into his cheek, sending his mask flying to the side and revealing two golden eyes.

Time stood still for a moment as I realized what I had done. I let go of his blade and stepped back, looking down at myself. My normally white Aura was now a midnight black color, and it seemed to wrap around my body in a different way. Where as the White Aura had simply wrapped around my body as a shield, this new Black Aura rippled like it had a life of its own. Around my hands the energy seemed to form claws, sharp and dangerous looking ones at that. I quickly banished my Aura and looked at Adam, who had picked up his mask and put it back on.

"First hit is free" he smirked at me. "We will start making you a weapon tomorrow, till then rest up" He walked away, leaving me in the empty arena with my thoughts.

I was changing. And although it seemed like it should feel wrong, I couldn't help but think that it felt more right then anything else I had ever done before.


	3. Even Darkness has Downtime

I looked at the red crystal in my hand, drawing in a sharp breath as I tried to draw its energy out and fuse it to my Aura.

"You are pushing to hard," Crimson chided from the other side of the room. "If you try and force it…"

The crystal exploded in my hand and sent me into a wall. "Ow.." I slid down and sat on the floor, glad that my Aura was up enough to protect me from the brunt of the damage.

"..you will blow yourself up" she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "So I believe that clears it, you have no talent for Dust manipulation without a conduit"

I quickly stood up and brushed myself off. "Let me try again"

She shook her head. "No, it isn't something you can train yourself to do, much like your large Aura you are either born with it or you are not" Crimson turned around. "Follow me" she walked out of the training room briskly.

I followed after her, my hands in my pockets. It had now been a full month and a half since I began working for Roman. Most days it seemed like it was tied for the best time of my life, and other days it was the worst. Roman was still teaching me the art of crime, and we had gone on three successful operations. Adam was still teaching me how to fight, although he put that on hold until my new weapon is finished. We mostly just talk about stuff for the majority of our time. He is about as intense as they come, but he can also be really insightful about most things.

And then there was Crimson. Out of all of the people I have met while working for Roman she is one of the most… interesting of them. She puts on the cold front that threatens to strike you down the second you speak to her, and to be fair for most people that front is actually what will happen, but if you go beyond that she was actually kind of…normal?

I mean I get that it isn't normal to want to see the world go up in flames while you sit by and watch it. But she just made it seem normal.

We entered the break room and she went over to the refrigerator, pulling out two cans of soda and tossing me one. After sitting down at the table I cracked it open and took a sip.

She began to drink her own and I laughed a bit. "What?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Its just…" I composed myself. "I don't know, you are Crimson, the woman who wants to destroy Vytal and allow the Grimm to claim it, just watching you drink a soda like a normal person is a bit…" I chuckled again.

She actually laughed at that and put down the drink. "You do realize that despite my desire to destroy the world doesn't mean I don't have normal human desires correct?"

I nodded toward her and set aside the can. "True, so tell me" I leaned forward. "What is it that you do when you aren't planning the destruction of the human race?"

She shrugged and thought about it for a moment. "I read, watch movies, listen to music, and when the mood strikes me I disguise myself and go out on the town for a night of dancing"

My jaw dropped at that last one. "Wait a minute, are you telling me that the Witch of Fire is pretty much a normal person?"

She shook her head and laughed. "This will surprise you Jaune, but no matter how people classify us no human is black and white" she created a small spark above her finger and watched it. "We all have things we do that set us apart. Like did you know Adam regularly helps with construction projects of local orphanages?"

Man my jaw had no chance of closing tonight. "Is this the same Adam who I once saw cut off a guys arm for touching a Faunus waitress inappropriately?"

She nodded. "And Roman regularly donates money to small hospitals that take in poor people without the cash to pay for the bigger ones"

Okay this had to be a joke. "But I thought…"

She raised her hand. "That our goal was to destroy all humans?" she laughed. "It is a thousand times more complicated then that in the end, black and white are mixed remember?" she picked up her drink and went toward the door.

"Hey Crimson?" I called out to her.

She turned around and looked at me. "Yes?"

I looked down. "Do you think maybe next time you sneak out I could join you, I haven't been out of this place for anything other then missions, and it is starting to get to me"

She smirked. "We'll see" she turned and left me in the break room, thinking about how things had changed, and how my own views of the world would have to change with it.


	4. Dreams of a Dark Future

Have you ever had a dream so potent that you could feel everything in it? The entire world in your dream seems so real you believe that that it is real. Sometimes, things like this are nice, when you are having a sweet and relaxing dream. But when it is in a nightmare, the luxury suddenly becomes a burden.

In my dream I watched over a battlefield, seeing two opposing armies staring down each other. On one side were the combined forces of humanity. All of their weapons and soldiers standing ready to defend what remained of themselves. On the other side were the forces of Grimm, seas of nothing but black bodies and white masks.

I felt myself pulled toward the front of the Grimm army, where two figures stood in front of the sea of monsters. One of them was the Grimm Queen, a witch who had absorbed the pure power of the source of the Grimm, and now had the power to command and summon the monsters to her side. Standing by her was a tall man dressed in pure black armor that covered every inch of him. A massive black claymore sat on his back, radiating deadly power and pure darkness. I didn't know who he was, but I could tell that he was the Queen's right hand man. A being of such darkness and evil that he had earned a place at the Queen's side.

"Do it," the Queen ordered, looking toward the armored figure with a cruel smile.

The man raised an arm in the air and then pointed toward the human army. "Devour," he ordered. The monsters called out in their hideous howls and began to charge forward toward the humans, moving as a single, inescapable wave.

The human forces let loose with everything they had, launching every ranged projectile they possessed to try and break the monsters ranks. But no matter how many Grimm were destroyed, there were too many, and the monsters hit the front lines of the human army in a matter of seconds. It was a slaughterfest for the Grimm; they killed without mercy or hesitation, scattering the bodies of the human defenders far and wide. The armored man was there with them, cutting down anyone and everyone unlucky enough to get in his path.

Suddenly a spear flew out of the carnage and struck the armored figure, sending him back a few feet at the force of the impact. Under his helm I could feel him searching for the spears wielder in the melee. The wielder came out of the fighting with a kick to the mans chest sending him back more. She jumped off of him and rolled on the ground, holding out a hand and summoning her weapon to her.

"So," the man spoke, his voice cold and menacing. "We meet again."

The woman stood tall, turning her spear into a sword and pushing her shield in front of her. It actually took a few seconds for me to recognize who it was. It was Pyrrah, except she was at least a good ten years older now. Her once long hair had been cut short and had a few lines of grey in it. "I will make you the offer one more time, stop this and remember who you are!"

The man laughed at her offer. "It is amazing, my forces have stormed over three quarters of the world, and you are the one offering me surrender?" He put his blade over his shoulders. "Your naivete will never fail to amuse me."

"The bastards right," another young woman appeared next to Pyrrah in a cloud of red petals. It was Ruby, there was no doubt about it. She held Crescent Rose in its gun form, aiming it at the man. "Even if the bastard begged for his life, I would kill him." The coolness of her voice bit my soul. I had never imagined such a voice coming from Ruby, not in a million years.

"Ruby, so good to see you again," the man inclined his helmeted head toward her. "Your sister sends her regards from hell."

Ruby winced but made no move to attack. "So does Roman, asshole."

The man paused at that. "So he really is dead, not surprising. So then, shall we?" he raised his hand and a wave of Grimm turned toward Ruby, attacking her. Pyrrah charged forth and battled the man. Her blade and shield against his claymore. Their fight was brutal, both of them pulling out every dirty trick ever written into the fighting manual. Pyrrah's soft red Aura blazed along her weapons, striking a contrast with the armored mans pitch black Aura. Their battle raged without interruption, the Grimm creating space for their duel.

After a full ten minutes the man in armor finally gained an advantage. Pyrrah had committed to a sword thrust, leading him to grab arm and twist it, making her weapon drop. She looked up at him, her eyes filled with sorrow. "Do it," she whispered.

The man complied, running her through with his blade in one clean movement. "Goodbye, Pyrrah Nikos." He pulled his blade free from her and let the body drop.

"No!" Ruby broke free from her own fight and turned toward the man, aiming her weapon at him in gun form. "Die!" The weapon glowed bright red and fired out a burst of pure red energy directly at him.

The man didn't have time to dodge, and the shot hit his armored head. For a few moments nothing but smoke rose from the area, but soon enough the smoke cleared, and I saw something impossible. The face of the armored man was my own. He had the same blonde hair as me, the same face as mine. There were subtle differences through, like his blood red eyes and the various black markings that ran along his head.

Ruby tossed aside her weapon, reaching into her coat to pull out another one. Except this one was pure white, and it seemed to hold a power all its own.

"I see, so you found that weapon did you?" The other me smiled and closed his eyes. His Aura flared and the armor fell off of him. Under it he wore a lighter set of leather armor and chainmail, which was as black as the heavier set he had been wearing before. He reached behind him and pulled a hood over his head, and then reached under the front of the neck hole of the armor to pulled up a bandana to cover his mouth.

"Yes, Reapers Lament, the ultimate weapon," Ruby changed the weapon from its gun mode to a scythe. She spun the weapon around her took her stance. "I am Ruby Rose, and I challenge you to a duel."

I saw my eyes flare with amusement. "Are you invoking the right to Final Destiny?"

The call for a Final Destiny match meant that whoever won the outcome would have to surrender the battle and retreat. For the humans that would mean death. For the Grimm it would mean having to retreat while under constant fire.

"Yes," Ruby replied looking at him.

"And what right do you have to challenge I, Jaune Arc, Knight of the Queen to this duel?"

"I am she who wields the scythe that brings death to death itself," Ruby's Aura flowered forward and her red cape began a bright white, much like my Aura had once been.

"Very well, I accept your challenge." He lifted his blade in front of him and let his black Aura surround him. Two pitch black wings of energy appeared from his cloak of darkness.

Ruby did the same, through hers appeared white and feathery, instead of pitch black and devoid of texture.

The two charged at each other, a crashing of black and white into a single gray color.

I awoke from my dream to find myself covered in sweat. My breathing was deep and troubled at the dream I just had.

"Is something wrong?" Crimson looked up at me with curiosity, although there was still sleep in her eyes.

"Just a bad dream," I muttered under my breath.

"Well then, lets see if I can't fix that," the witch grabbed my arm and pulled me back toward the bed, climbing on top of me with hunger in her eyes.

Although, memories of this dream would haunt me later, Crimsons current affections outweighed my desire to think of them.

Was I really destined to become that monster in my dreams? To lead a charge to end all life on the planet? I guess only time will tell.


	5. Rise of Darkness

Some days you wake up not knowing what will happen, and honestly, that can be scary. But sometimes, you can have complete knowledge of what is going to happen, and that can be ten times more frightening given the situation.

Today would be the day that I demonstrated all of the skills I had been taught. Combat, strategy, and Aura control. I would be put into an arena with an Alpha Beowolf and ten normal Beowolves.

If I couldn't defeat them, then all of my training would be worth jack and shit. I pulled the covers off of me and dropped to the ground, doing a few sets of push ups to warm my body up. After I had worked up a sweat, I took a quick shower and tried to look for something to wear.

Most of my normal combat gear would be woefully ineffective for a fight like this. Unlike training with Adam, my life was at serious danger. Finally, I noticed a package on the bed. It was wrapped in black paper with a white bow on top of it. I felt a smile come to my face as I realized Crimson had probably left it for me. I ripped open the paper and what I found inside of it floored me.

It was a set of pure black clothing with a small card on top of it. A pair of pants, a shirt, and a hoodie. When I picked them up and felt the fabric, I sensed something on them I can't quite describe. It was a bit like a black hole, dragging in everything around it and converting it to nothingness. When I pressed down I felt small metallic rings inside of the fabric, and although they should have weighed down the clothing it felt like it weighed almost nothing.

I picked up the card and found Crimson's writing inside of it, neat and proper as always. She had written how the clothing was made from the webs of a rare Grimm Spider that was one of the oldest Grimm in existence. Apparently, it was so huge it would capture entire towns in its webs and slowly drain the people's Aura until there were nothing but husks left. That explained the unnatural feeling of it then. Apparently, due to its properties, it would protect me from Dust based attacks, and allow me to more efficiently shield and attack with my Aura.

It looked a lot like what I had been wearing in my dreams, and I couldn't help but feel that when I put it on everything would change. Like this would lock all of my cards into place and send me toward the future in my dreams. I know it was stupid, after all the future is created by a huge number of decisions, not just the choice to wear some super awesome gear my sort of girlfriend had made me. So, I put on the clothes and found that inside of the hoodie there was a mask I could pull over my mouth, one that had white teeth painted into it. The amount of work put into the clothing set my heart aflame for Crimson, and I honestly couldn't imagine the work that went into this. I found a pair of gloves in the sleeves of the hoodie and slid them on the complete the look. I checked myself in the mirror and couldn't believe it. I looked so much different from how I normally did. I summoned my Aura around me and watched as it mixed in with the clothing, forming a tight shield rather than the huge mass that normally guarded me.

I took a breath and walked out of the room and toward the arena. It never failed to amaze me that Roman had managed to build an entire base under the city. But, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, you didn't become the number one criminal mastermind in Vytal for nothing.

I finally arrived at the entrance to the arena, and found my three teachers waiting for me. "You ready for this kid?" Adam asked with his normal growl.

"As I will ever be," I offered him my fist and he pushed his against mine.

Roman clapped. "Good, because we have a full house tonight," he smirked. "Adam, give the boy his weapon."

The red haired Faunus nodded and stepped out of the way of a long metal box he had blocking. He pressed a button on the side, and I saw the weapon I had drawn plans for. It was a huge claymore, the flat of the blade had Dust crystals infused into the metal, allowing me to use my sword as a medium for Dust attacks.

"You know only you would have the opportunity to create a weapon with a gun attached and go for the most boring option," Adam smirked at me.

"Whatever, simple is better in some cases you know," I picked up the blade and did a few test swings with it. The blade was less heavy than it would appear due to the use of some special Dust fused into the metal. It was easy to wield but would still pack a hell of a punch. I flared out my Aura had let it run along the blade. I felt each Dust crystal and remembered the exercises Crimson and I had gone through.

Roman clapped me on the back. "Well, my boy, I will see you on the battlefield," he walked off with Adam following him, leaving me and Crimson alone.

"So um..." I scratched the back of my head and laid my weapon on the wall. "Thanks for the outfit."

She smiled. "It was my pleasure, through you realize if you mess it up you won't live to regret it."

I nodded. "Wouldn't dream of it." We stood in silence for a moment. "So are you going to wish me l..."

Crimson stepped forward and slammed me with a kiss so passionate I am pretty sure I saw stars. "I am not going to wish you luck, I will however hope that you listened to half the things you were taught," she turned around. "And remember, there is more than one way to defeat an enemy."

I nodded and picked up my blade, trying to decide on a name for it. The name came to be in a sudden rush. Tyrfing. The name spoke to me for some reason. I walked through the doors and down the rows of seats, all of which were filled with various people here to watch the illegal fight about to go down. Above the crowds sitting in an outcropping were Roman, Adam, and Crimson.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" An unseen announcer called out. "Tonight we have a special treat for you, former Beacon student Jaune Arc," a spotlight shone on me from above as I walked to the caged arena. "Versus a pack of Beowolves, lead by an Alpha Grimm!" A set of lights lit up a cage filled with the demonic creatures. "In a fight to the death, let's see who wins!" The crowd roared as I stepped into the ring.

The wolves were released and all at once the battle started. With the Alpha leading them, the Beowolves were more powerful than they had any right to be, drawing dark energy from their leader. I fought with a furry I had never known before, activating every crystal on my blade and leaving the arena covered in ice, fire, electrically charged water, and all other manner of element.

But no matter how hard I fought, their numbers still worked against me, and I found myself knocked against the side of the wall with my sword on the other side of the arena.

The creatures circled me, getting ready for a killing blow. I looked at them and felt a small trickle of blood drip past my left eye. I was going to die, and I accepted it.

"No!" I stood up, feeling my Aura burst forth around me. "I am not going to die!" I glared at the beasts. "I am not weak."

The words ran through my mind and I knew there meaning instantly. I raised my arm toward the wolves. "Kneel." the crowd went silent. The wolves looked at me with confusion. "I said kneel!" I felt my Aura ripple and two massive wings made of black energy burst open behind me.

The wolves looked as if they were struggling at the sound of my voice, all but the Alpha, who was simply frozen in place.

"I am Jaune Arc, I hold the powers of darkness in my hand." I felt as black marks began to run along my face and knew that my eyes now glowed blood red. "And I order you to kneel!"

All at once the wolves kneeled to me, lowering their heads to the ground. The Alpha let out a howl, still pushing against my power.

"Bullshit!" Adam called out with a laugh.

"Good show." Roman clapped.

Crimson simply watched me from the darkness, her eyes glowing against the blackness.

"Those who don't bow will be slain," I grinned and snapped my fingers, causing the Beowolves to turn on their Alpha. They ripped the creature to shreds in seconds. I let out a roar of triumph and all at once my energy faded. I had pushed myself well past my limits, and I was out before my body hit the ground.

A few hours later, I awoke to feel a soft hand running through my hair. "Well, that was certainly impressive." Crimson said with a smile.

"That was real?" I asked her, still tired as hell from the fight.

"Very, but we can discuss that later, for now," she kissed my forehead gently. "Sleep"

I wanted to argue, to ask more about the powers I had used. But I was too exhausted to do so, and slipped back into darkness after a few seconds.


	6. A Taste of the Light

((Remember that reviews go a long way in giving me the desire to keep pumping out these stories at my normal pace))

Ruby sighed to herself and looked at the group around her. Everyone was pretty quiet, pretty much exactly how they had been for the past three months. Even Nora had stopped telling her jokes and stories by this point, which was a definite sign of how truly dark the recent past had been for them.

Three months ago, two students had been killed and thrown from the falls of the school. One of them was Cardin Winchester, who in Ruby's opinion was a jerk, and he probably deserved what happened to him for all of the cruel things he had done to her friends and other people.

The second victim had been Jaune Arc, who was the first friend Ruby had made at the school and had been the leader of team JNPR. His death had hit both of the teams pretty hard. Nora had openly cried about it; Ren was his usual self but there was a spark of pain in his eyes whenever the subject was brought up. And then there was…

Ruby looked at Pyrrha and frowned. Pyrrha had been a mess ever since Jaune went missing. When Cardin's body was found with Jaune's weapons she had taken a break from classes to join in the hunt for his body. After not being found, the police began to assume that he had committed the crime. But they had no real evidence to back it up other then the weapon, which really could have been used by anyone. And with the psychological profile that the Beacon doctors had on him, there was little chance of him just randomly killing people.

So they had put together a theory that Jaune and Cardin had a meetup near the falls late at night, possibly the share notes or something of that sort. An unknown attacker had killed Jaune and used his weapon to murder Cardin. Afterwards, the bodies were dumped off the edge and the killer made his way out of the school, possibly by the way of the Emerald Forest . It made a sick sort of sense, after all Jaune belonged to a family of heroes, and killing him would be something to brag about, or possibly there was a hit put on him.

After it was quite clear Jaune was gone Ozpin had announced Pyrrha as the new leader, and moved another student onto the former team JNPR. Velvet Scarlatina, a rabbit Faunus who specialized in healing others. She had formerly been a lone student due to her being a strictly healing focused student, but she seemed eager to be on the field with the other hunters, not content to wait on the side lines for the wounded. They had gotten a new name, but kept Juniper as their code name to honor their fallen friends memory.

About a month after Jaune's death, the creatures of Grimm had gone crazy, doubling their normal attacks of human cities and settlements. First year students had been forced to join in minor battles all over Vale. Monsters that had been long thought dead had begun rising, leading hoards of smaller creatures at their backs. The cause of the fever was unknown, but there had been talks of the Second Coming of Darkness.

The Second Coming of Darkness was suppose to be an event where the Knight of Grimm would rise again in a new form and revive the Queen of Grimm and the Source Alpha, the first Grimm and the creature from which all other Grimm spawned from. A lot of people took this as just a fairy tale, after all the Grimm royalty had been destroyed over the years. The Source Grimm was defeated by Micheal Arc, a relative of Jaune's. The Queen had been slain a few years later by the 'Traitor Witch,' who had used the ultimate scythe to rip the creatures existence out and trap it so the Queen wouldn't be reborn again and give life back to the Source. And the Knight had been killed seventeen years ago by Jaune's dad. Without the Knight the Queen couldn't be freed, and without the Queen the Source couldn't be reborn. All the same fear was spreading among the people, and they had been forced to work double time. A few students had been killed in battle, adding on to the wall of heroes.

"Okay I have had enough!" Yang pounded her fist on the table, making everyone jump a bit. "Guys, it has been three months, Juane wouldn't want us to be moping around forever after his death, and doing nothing but sulking is freaking killing us."

Everyone looked at Yang like she was crazy. No one brought up Juane these days, not with how easily everyone could still be set off by it.

"Listen, we have our first break in for-freaking-ever tomorrow, and I say we go down to the city and have some fun," she looked over the group. "Come on!"

Everyone was quiet for a moment, and then Pyrrha raised her voice. "I...agree."

All eyes turned to look at her now. Even Yang seemed a bit surprised that she had gone along with it.

"We need to destress, and as you said, Juane would want us to honor his memory with laughter," her words sounded a bit hollow but she still spoke strongly.

"A night on the town does sound fun," Weiss commented.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind getting off campus for a day," Ruby smiled at the group.

"It would be quite unwise to waste our single day of freedom by sticking around here," Blake said sagely.

Nora turned to Ren with an excited grin.. "Oh my gosh we could wear the matching outfits I got us!"

Ren turned in horror to the group looking for someone to throw him a rope here. Sadly, everyone was too amused by Nora being Nora to do anything of the sort. "That...sounds...wonderful," he said between clenched teeth.

Velvet cleared her throat. "As sure as I am that it will be a rather fun time I am afraid I will have to decline."

Yang turned toward her. "How come bunny girl?"

Velvet scratched the back of her head. "Well you see I am a bit behind on some of my classes, and I recently got a good book…" she saw that she wasn't convincing anyone and sighed. "I am not up for a day of being around people who look at me like I am a freak and pull on my ears."

Everyone nodded in sympathy for the girl. Although the school had accepted her due to the rule of "don't piss off the one fixing your body" tensions were still high between the Faunus and the humans. A lot of people blamed the Faunus for the current fights, citing that Faunus were those infected with Grimm gene's in them, and they had served as soldiers for the Grimm in the first war.

"So where exactly will we be going?" Ruby asked curiously. "I mean there are the movies, or maybe we could visit some weapon smiths…"

Yang cut her off quickly. "Nope, we are going to a club and dancing and flirting with cute guys and drinking…" she gave her sister a look. "Well you're not but we are"

Ruby crossed her arms. "It is so unfair, I am old enough to fight monsters but not drinking some crumby alcohol."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Trust me you aren't missing much, from what I can tell the stuff you guys drink is basically pig swill."

"Not everyone has unlimited access to expensive wine bought off the backs of mistreated workers," Blake said from behind her book.

Weiss was about to argue but decided better of it. She knew that her family didn't exactly have the moral high ground, and she didn't try and pretend that they did.

"Then it is official, Operation Have a Good Time is now in effect!" Yang raised her fist in the air, and the rest of the table did as well, feeling for the first time that life could be normal again.

The next day rolled around, and after a full day of walking around town and generally just having a good time they arrived at the club Yang had talked so highly about.

"Isn't this the place where you punched the owner through a window?" Ruby asked her sister with a frown.

Yang grinned. "Yep"

"Great" Ruby shook her head and looked at the group. Most of them had were wearing their normal clothing, except for Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora. Pyrrha had decided to wear her school uniform, which was a lot lighter than her usual armor. Ren and Nora were dressed in matching pink outfits. Ren looked as if he were trying to destroy the clothing with his mind, but wouldn't do anything other than that in fear of hurting Nora's feelings. Theywalked into the club, which was blasting a heavy techno song which people down in the pits were dancing to.

"So where do we drop off our weapons?" Ruby asked as she put her hand on Cresent Rose. All students were required to have their weapons on them at all times, after all with Grimm activity you never knew when a monster might attack.

Yang smirked. "Just hold on to them, you will be…" she froze as she looked toward the bar. "What the fuck," she whispered, taking a step back.

Ruby looked at Yang with wide eyes. She didn't normally go for the big curse words, and whenever she broke out the F-bomb it was pretty serious. She looked at the group around her, and noticed their eyes were aimed exactly where Yang's were, frozen in looks of shock. Ruby turned her gaze toward the area they were staring at and found…

There are some things you can predict in a day. You are predict the sun will rise, and the sun will set. You can predict that when you ask your girlfriend to a night of dancing and drinks she will most likely say yes, even if she is a Witch.

What you can't predict is a group of your former friends entering the same club you had choosen, finding you with your arm around said Witch and drinking back a martini. "Oh…" Crimson followed my gaze and her eyes widened.

"Crap"


	7. Light vs Dark

((Wow this is a good bit longer then my usual work for this story. Leave a Review if you like for thoughts and opinions.))

There are few moments that will ever be more awkward then meeting a group of people who think you are dead. No...wait scratch that. Meeting said people who think you are dead and having your arm wrapped around a Witch whose sole purpose is the destruction of all humanity probably tops that. We all sat there for a bit, them at the entrance, me at the bar.

Finally Ren broke the silence, his gun flew from his sleeve and he aimed at me. "For the suspected murder of Cardin Winchester and for the crime of associating with a Witch I am placing you under arrest" his voice was low and controlled, and all at once the music in the club stopped.

The group turned to look at him, surprised by the turn of events. Yang broke contact with him before the rest to glare at Crimson. "Witch?" she asked with an angry scowl on her face. "Well isn't this my lucky day" she rolled her shoulders and formed her gauntlets over her arms.

I blinked and looked at Crimson, who had a mocking smile on her face. "Blonde hair, gauntlet type weapon, and a distaste for my kind, I am guessing you are a Xiao Long" she smirked and took a slow sip of her drink. "Still enjoying the curse we put upon your family?"

Yang's Aura flared up and a blood chilling smile came to her face. "Want to find out bitch?"

Crimson smiled cruelly and the marks along her body began to glow dark red. "Oh make my day"

"Wait!" I stood up and got in front of Crimson and looked at the group of my former friends. "Lets at least let the people leave first"

Yang began to start forward but Ruby put her scythe in front of her sister. "Yang" she said shortly. Yang glanced at Ruby at stepped back. "You won't make a move until they are gone?"

I nodded. "On my honor" that got a few fake laughs out of them. "Right guess you guys aren't going to buy that" I shrugged.

The people began to run out of the club at the sight of the standoff. Junior and his men walked out onto the battlefield, looking wary of Yang but not willing to let a fight with their allies on their turf go without some assistance. His two female bodyguards walked over to me and Crimson, both giving me a short nod. They were pretty things, graduated from Signal but couldn't cut it in Beacon, a lot like me in some ways. Junior had hired them as bodyguards, and they were good at their job. But not good enough. "Sorry about this" I said, only half meaning it. I put my hands against their backs and flared my black Aura up, sending two spikes of dark energy through their hearts.

All at once everyone in the room had their eyes on me. "I call upon the will of the Source, he who is the chaos before existence ever was, from your malice I summon darkness into these two fading forms." the sisters bodies began to spasm, and a sort of black bile began to flow out of their wounds and along their bodies. Once it the shadows had spread across their bodies small white plates of bone like armor began to spawn along their forms. When the process had fully finished both of the sisters were abominations, Grimm creatures in a mockery of a human form. One of the creatures had two long blade like claws bursting forth from its hands. The other had a blade that ran under its foot. Both of them had unnaturally large mouths, filled with pure black teeth, and huge glowing red eyes. They began to chuckle playfully and looked toward the Hunters with hunter.

"Grimmification" Pyrrha said, her mouth set in a hard line. "How can that be?"

Crimson wrapped her arm around me from behind and leaned against my back. "Isn't it obviously?" she smirked. "He is the Knight of Grimm"

"Well I guess that means we kill both of you" Weiss said with zero emotion in her voice. She took a stance and her rapier changed to its red crystal.

Everyone had their weapons at the ready, and as soon as the last club goer had exited the building I looked at Crimson. "How long will they take to get here?" I asked. I knew she had hit the emergency button that Roman had given her. It would let him know they needed serious back up fast.

"Average time is about six minutes" Crimson said with a frown. "Can you do this without your weapon?"

I smiled and flared my Aura, summoning two pure black wings of energy behind me. "My weapon isn't the only deadly thing about me anymore"

"Enough talk, lets beat the crap out of the traitor" Yang charged me, her Aura flaring around her like fire. She threw a punch, which I managed to catch with an Aura guarded fist. Crimson blasted her back with a ball of fire from behind me. The room quickly blew up into a mass of small battles. Blake and Weiss were handling Junior and his blade equipped thugs. Yang and Ruby were now busy in battle against the Grimm infected twins, which left me and Crimson to deal with…

Ren flew at me and struck with an open palmed strike, sending his Aura out like a wall at me. I moved one of the dark Aura wings in front of me to shield myself and Crimson, only to realize the attack had been a diversion. Ren dodged to the side and Nora opened fire with her weapon, sending explosive shots right at us. The blasts landed hard and my Aura wavered. I sent created a blade of Aura to counter Pyrrha's sword, which swiftly followed the fallout of the explosives. "Crimson, I can't fight and cover you at the same time" I threw out my hand and blasted Pyrrha back with a pulse of energy.

She nodded, jumping up on the bar counter behind me and jumping over me and my attackers, sending a pulse of fire out at Yang, who dodged back from it and the claws of one of the demonic twins.

I turned toward my former team and summoned my Aura wings once more. "So then, shall we?"

Ruby slammed the blunt side of her scythe into the once human Grimm with blades on her feet, still having a hard time finding it in herself to actually kill the poor girl. She might have made some bad choices, but no one deserved this. She turned her head to see that Yang was not having the same moral issues as she was. Yang grabbed the creature by its hair and landed a powerful fist to its face, activating the shotgun inside of her gauntlet and blowing the creatures head off its body. I turned toward my enemy. "I am so sorry" the creature ran at me once more, but this time when she dodged out of the way the creature met the blade of her scythe. With a single tug of the trigger the creatures upper half was separated from its lower half, and it began to change into flower petals. When a creature of Grimm was killed with a normal weapon they would melt down into Grimm Vile, a poisonous liquid that was a bit like acid. It was why Hunters used Dust infused weaponry that would convert the Grimm's body into a non harmful form. Yang's gauntlets caused creatures to burn, Blake's turned them to smoke, Weiss's weapon turned their forms to water, and Ruby's tuned them to rose petals.

Ruby dodged out of the way of a blast of fire as the Witch landed between her and Yang. "Hello there" she grinned and raised her hands, creating a circle of fire around the two sisters. "So then, the last Witch Hunter and…" she turned toward me, her eyes widening when she saw me. "You have got to be kidding me"

Ruby blinked in confusion and looked at Yang, whose eyes suddenly went wide. "What?" she asked. She loaded in a new box of ammo into Crescent Rose, a pack of ice bullets given to her by Weiss.

Crimson began to laugh bitterly. "To think she would debase herself like that with a human… it almost makes me want to vomit"

"Enough!" Yang pounded her fists together and flared her Aura up, running at the witch.

Crimson snapped her fingers and a massive pillar of fire rose from the ground, tossing Yang into the air when she was hit by it. "Tell me girl, what is your mothers name?"

Ruby knew she should be fighting, but some part of her wouldn't let her just yet. "Summer Rose"

Crimson laughed. "So thats what my sister ended up calling herself"

"Sister?" Ruby asked, a bit of panic running through her voice. Yang had gotten away from the pillar of flames and landed next to Ruby.

"Oh, you mean they didn't tell you?" Crimson smiled darkly at the two of them. "Your mother, my sister, was the Traitor Witch, the one who killed the Queen of Grimm and sealed away her existence"

Ruby took a step back, looking at Yang and Crimson. "What?"

Blake knocked down another one of Junior's thugs with a kick to the throat, quickly dodging out of the way as one of them attempted to slash her from behind. "Is it me, or are these guys a lot stronger than they look?" Blake was panting a bit. From the way Yang had described them these people should have been going down easier than this. Each one was absorbing more damage than a normal human who wasn't using Aura should have.

Weiss hit one of the suited men, sending a blast of lightning through his body and chaining it with four other men. "Enhancement Dust, it wasn't suppose to ever be released to the public through"

"Another monster the Schnee company has created" Blake said bitterly and she blocked two incoming blades with hers.

Weiss winced at that remark and changed her weapon to its ice mode to conserve Dust. "I told you, it wasn't suppose to be released to the public, testing made it clear that it could destroy a human body, despite the temporary benefits" Weiss jumped over a group of people and landed behind them, striking the ground and freezing their legs.

"One right in a long list of wrongs" Blake replied as she dodged her way through the thugs, landing knock out blows on their heads and throats.

"Are we really doing this right now?" Weiss asked dramatically as the two found themselves back to back, surrounded by the remaining thugs.

"Fine, I assume we will have all the time in the world to argue in the afterlife" Blake reloaded her weapon and looked toward the group. "We are going to have to use that move"

Weiss felt her eyes widen in surprise. "You do know the last time we tried that we almost got ourselves killed, and that was when there weren't an army of thugs waiting to pound us into paste"

"Trust me I don't like it either" Blake sighed as the thugs moved in. "But it is now or never"

Weiss nodded and jumped into the air. Blake caught her foot and threw her high into the air. A few moments later Weiss created a symbol under her, which launched Blake up after her. "Combined attack!" they both called out, matching their timing. "Dust Storm!" Blake touched Weiss's arm from behind and suddenly the air above the group was filled with multiple versions of the two. The shadow images of the Weiss swung their rapiers, sending lines of ice toward the mens feet. They followed it with a blast of fire, melting the ice and finished with a blast of lightning, shocking the men and sending them spasming to the ground. The girls landed with a crash and a groan. "Never doing that again." Weiss groaned as she stood up.

"Agreed" Blake stood up and drew in a harsh breath. The amount of control their attack required left them both drained.

The thugs leader had ditched the battle a few minutes ago, apparently deciding that he wouldn't have more of an impact on the battle then his souped up thugs would.

"So..what now?" Weiss asked.

Turns out fighting three on one was very effective. Every time I tried to press some form of advantage against the trio of former allies they would adjust and use numbers to their advantage. Without my weapon I was forced to use only my Aura to attack and defend. And although I had a massive amount of energy at my disposal it didn't mean that every missed attack or taken blow didn't drain me.

It was quite amazing just how well they fought together. Without speaking they knew what the next move would be, they played off each others strengths and covered each others weaknesses. They were a team one could only dream of, and some part of him actually felt a tinge of sadness at having left them.

_Where were they when you needed them?_ A dark voice whispered in his mind.

I winced as the voice spoke in my mind. For the past few weeks a voice that wasn't quite mine was whispering though my thoughts, saying things that made sense in a twisted fashion, always showing the darkest side of every situation. When I asked Crimson she just said it was a natural part of my powers, and that it would go away at some point.

I threw out my hands to stop Pyrrha and Ren from striking me from the side, only to be smashed with Nora's hammer hard enough to launch me into a wall. I hit it hard, leaving an indent in the stone. I coughed out blood from my mouth as my powers rapidly began to go to work on healing the wound. I was forced to quickly summon an Aura blade to prevent Pyrrha from landing a slash on me.

"Why Jaune?" she asked, her eyes filled with confusion. "Why would you do all of this, we are your friends!"

Those words cut into me, deeper than any blade ever could. And for a moment, I found some form of...clarity. I found myself looking at the world for that moment differently. I saw my friends around me, fighting for their lives against people whom a few months ago I wouldn't bother associating with. "Pyrrha?" I asked, suddenly confused.

She looked at me, hope in her beautiful green eyes. "Please, stop this"

For the first time in a long time I considered it. I knew that no matter what happened I would be held accountable for my actions. I had murdered a future Hunter in cold blood, and many more people after that under orders from Roman. But if I worked to bring him down I might one day get out, live a life that didn't involve...this. But the moment passed, and I let out a sigh. "This is me" I kicked Pyrrha back and saw Ren jump at me, preparing for a double handed strike. Even if I put up a full defense this attack would finish it, if I guarded then he could barrage me with blows, and if I attacked I might hit him, but not as bad as he would hit me.

Suddenly Ren lost his balance as an object struck his back. His stance was thrown into disarray, giving me the perfect opening. I put my open palm against his chest and blasted him back into a wall. I picked up the object of my salvation and grinned. Back up.

I tossed Adam his blade as he, Torchwick, and two other people entered into the club. I jumped over to him and he gave me a nod. One of the people, a tall thin black male with light green hair, handed me the case to my weapon, which I quickly removed. The other one, who could have been a clone of the first had it not been for his sky blue hair, handed me a jet black crystal, which was Grimm infected Dust. I drained it into my Aura, feeling the rush of dark energy flow into me.

"So then" Roman smiled at the crowd and tipped his hat. "Hello there, are we ready to...how do the kids say it now a days?" he snapped his fingers and the two twins held out opposite arms, allowing metallic clawed gauntlets to form over their arms. "Party?"

I grinned and put the blade over my arms, looking at the group. "I believe we are"

And it was going to be a hell of a party.


	8. Light vs Dark: Prelude to Battle

Adam turned toward me with a dark smile. "So how are we diving this up?" he had put his blade back into the sheath and was looking over the battlefield.

As it stood they were equal in terms of number, but it occurred to me that in terms of ability we were going to be lagging a bit behind. Although the twins were tough they would only hold back any of the current fighters.

Adam could definitely win a fight with any of the people three months ago when he left, but if the news was to be believed the entire group had seen enough action to bring them on level with him.

I have no idea how Roman is in a fight, but he had often warned me that he wasn't a pushover.

Crimson was busy in her little inferno ring against Ruby and Yang, both heavy hitters. I didn't doubt that she could hold her own against them, but I didn't know for how long we could go without her back up.

And then there was me. I had certainly advanced a lot in the past three months, becoming a force that most would fear fighting against, but that didn't make me unstoppable, and although my Aura was recharged I still felt the phantom pains from the four on one beatdown from earlier. "Adam, you take Blake. Roman, Weiss. Twins, handle Nora and Ren"

One of them laughed. "Those are the two in the pink outfits yah?"

Ren's eyes burned with fury as he pulled the Jade Dragons from his sleeves. Apparently the outfit was a bit of a sore spot for him. Nora laughed. "Yep thats us!"

Roman twisted the head of his cane a drew out a blade. He spun the body of the cane in his other hand and laughed. "You know, I normally don't get to dirty my hands with things like this, should be fun, eh snow flake?"

Weiss scoffed and took a battle stance. "If you expect this to be easy you are going to be quite disappointed" her eyes lit up. "You know taking down Vale's Kingpin might actually earn me a spot in the papers, what do you think Blake?"

Blake didn't answer, she was too busy staring down Adam with a mixture of hate and… sadness. And although I couldn't see his eyes I knew from his body language alone that he was feeling the exact same thing.

I locked eyes with Pyrrha, who was looking at me with determination. She had heard well enough what the battle pairings would be, and that it only left me and her to fight. I flared my Aura up and used the Burn crystal to set Tyrfing on fire.

"Wait a minute" Ren spoke up and looked at his side and ours. "Why are we letting ourselves get talked into splitting up and fighting on his terms?"

Roman chuckled at that. "Because that is how these things work kid." he tipped his hat toward Weiss and darted to the left to give them open room.

Weiss turned toward the rest of the team. "I will be along to assist you guys when this is finished." she took after Roman quickly.

Adam nodded toward Blake and slipped outside without saying a single word.

Blake looked at me for a moment. "Well?"

I stepped aside and waved a hand for her to pass me. "Not my place to get involved in his fight"

Blake nodded and walked past me to go after Adam.

Which left me, the twins, and my former team looking at each other. "So then…" I sent a wave of fire from my blade at Pyrrha, which she dodged without a moments hesitation. I jumped toward and and brought my sword down upon her, only to have her block it with her shield and use the attempt to run me through with her spear.

The twins had engaged Ren and Nora just like I knew they would. The battle lines had all been set, now all I could do was hope that my team won.

Authors Notes: So then this chapter is small, only coming in around 600 words. But there is a reason for this. Every chapter from here on out is going to be a single battle, and putting in a battle with all of this… I don't know this is kind of more setup than anything. I really like where I am starting the next fight from as well, so please excuse me for the small chapter here. Anyway the next chapter should come out no more than one or two days from now, so you won't have to just have this one for too long.

tldr? Sorry for the short chapter, bigger and better stuff coming soon.

But since we have some room here for authors notes I want to just drop two things. First off the order of the fights.

Blake vs. Adam

Weiss vs. Roman

Nora and Ren vs. Twins

Ruby and Yang vs. Crimson

Jaune vs. Pyrrha

All fights except Jaune vs. Pyrrha will be done in a third person point of view, simply because it is kind of my writing style. First person for one character but swap to third so I get more awesome stuff out.

Also I am kind of considering doing a Q and A kind of chapter, if anyone is interested in that drop a comment with your question or PM it to me. Since the world of the story is my own creation and simply piggybacks stuff from RWBY I am sure there are some questions you guys had.

Anyway it was nice to get all the set up out of the way, see you guys soon!


	9. Light vs Dark: Ideals vs Loyalty

Blake chased Adam out of the building and onto the streets, which all civilians had wisely abandoned after the fighting in the club had started. Once they were a few feet away Adam turned toward Blake, standing in silence with his hand over the hilt of his sword.

Blake stood a few feet away from the taller Faunus, looking at him sadly. "Adam…"

Before she could continue the man interrupted. "What the hell is this Blake?" he asked angrily. "I get leaving us, but you are really going to stand there and fight against me? Against Roman?" Adam let loose a small growl. "What the actual hell are you thinking Blake?"

Blake's eyes darkened with rage, and she aimed her weapon at Adam in its gun mode. "No, you don't get to play that card Adam, as soon as I found out what you two were doing anything that might have connected us was severed."

Adam laughed at that and glared at the girl. "If it weren't for Roman we would still be on the streets, half starved and desperate" his grip tightened on the hilt. "By the time he found us you were actually considering…" he had to fight the bile rising in his throat. "Entertaining those assholes that came by our alley."

Blake looked down, not wanting to remember the horrors that she had faced when she was younger, not wanting to have them thrown in her fact by the man she had once known as her only family. "Stop it…"

"Screw that!" Adam barked out. "Roman saved us Blake, he gave us a place to live, gave me the training to defend us. And in return all he asked was that we were loyal to him"

"Killing people is wrong!" she shouted toward him.

"Didn't hear you arguing when I killed my father to set you free from your cage" Adam replied coldly.

Blake began to shake as all of her past memories were shaken free from the doors she had carefully constructed to keep them back. How she was left as an orphan in the single worst part of town, how she had been bought by a traveling show as 'The Amazing Catgirl' and forced to do tricks that could have quite easily killed her if she made a single misstep. She remembered the bright red headed boy who had talked to her and brought her treats. The one human who was nice to her. He remembered the day they escaped onto the streets with nothing but their freedom. She remembered it all, but even with that.

"I would have rather died than be forced to live a life that hurts others" she frowned. "You used to know that Adam, you used to care about other people"

"Now all I care about is my loyalty." Adam pulled his sword from his sheath. "I am taking you back Blake, kicking and screaming if that is how it has to be"

Blake shook her head. "You are wrong Adam, I am going to be the one taking you down, and you are going to face justice" she opened fire with Gambol Shroud.

"So be it!" he quickly knocked the bullets from the air and sprinted at her, attempting to cut her down with his blade. But she was fast, even faster then him on most days. Adam slashed again, cutting through what he assumed was Blake's arm, only for the figure he had cut to fade from existence, making it known he had only cut down an afterimage of Blake.

"You never could see through that could you?" Blake slashed at Adam from the side, scoring a small knick on his arm and landing behind him.

"Yeah, but you never saw counter attacks" he quickly turned around his sheath and used its shotgun mode to fire an impact round at Blake. He heard a cry of pain and the sound of Blake landing after being picked up by the shot and launched backward. "Thats the difference between me and you, I can take a hit" Adam turned around and paused for a moment as a sudden realization came upon him.

There was only one Blake before, and now suddenly the entire street was filled with hundreds of copies of Blake. All of them holding her signature weapon, each one looking at him with that pitiful look of sorrow and anger. "How many can you take?" they asked in unison.

Adam blinked for a moment and adjusted his visor. "How… you… this isn't…" they had to be illusions. The Blake he knew didn't have enough Aura to pull off something this massive. The copies attacked him and Adam quickly forgot his earlier confusion and began to slice through the copies. Each one disappeared after a single slash of his blade, which didn't help much seeing as even when he cut one down ten more would take its place. This had to be some sort of illusions, the copies were just fakes being used to confusion him while the real Blake got close enough to attack him. Adam dodged out of the way of one of the copies attacks only for another one to jump over it and slice his chest, delivering a painful blow to him. "Gotcha" he grabbed the Blake who had wounded him and punched her, only for the person to disappear.

"Confused yet?" the crowd asked him as another two copies struck both of his legs.

Adam dropped down to a knee in pain and held a hand to his chest. Except… he didn't feel blood. He looked down and saw the wounds he had taken weren't on his body at all. Suddenly a foot slammed into his face, sending him tumbling along the cold street. Adam picked himself up and dragged the back of his hand over his mouth, removing a thin trickle of blood which had begun to form. "How?"

The Blakes didn't answer and simply resumed their attack on him. Adam blocked and dodged the crowd, pulling out every trick in the book to destroy as many copies as he could. But the destruction of a copy didn't seem to do anything to the crowd, and even if he wasn't really being wounded by her blade it certainly felt like he was whenever one of them landed a blow. That brought the Faunus to another line of thought. None of them could harm him, but his body believed he was being damaged. He quickly flared up his blood red Aura and examined it, finding that his assumptions were correct. A small trail of midnight black threads ran through his Aura, giving it the look of something infected. "Amazing…"

The army of copies paused their attack. "You figured it out then?" they asked.

The tall Faunus shook his head in amazement. "Yeah, it was actually kind of obvious once I actually thought about it" he laughed a bit. "Not even Jaune at full power with your Sembalance could create something like this. That first move was unlike you, just charging at me in close quarters so early in a fight" he put a hand on the wound she had given him. "Your blade is coated in some kind of Dust that is now running through my body, acting under your command to mess up what it feels and sees"

"Knowing doesn't change anything" the army began their attack again, firing with guns and slashing with blades, forcing Adam to dodge to avoid the false pain his body believed it was experiencing. Every now and again Blake would also throw in a real attack from his flank, delivering small slashes and cuts aimed at his more vital areas, like the legs and arms.

"Actual it does change things" he jumped away from the crowd and sighed, sheathing his blade and looking at them. "It means I can't hold back anymore" Adam reached up to his visor and pulled it off his face, tossing it toward the ground away from him. "I am sorry Blake" he opened his eyes, which were both dark red, the same color as most Grimm. "But I am not gonna hold back anymore!" Adam's voice came out much more manic, out of control, and all around insane.

Blake cursed to herself and slowly had her fake forces retreat. Adam wasn't a natural Faunus, rather he had allowed the Witch Crimson to infect him with just enough Grimm bile to cause him to mutate into one. The experiment had made Adam much stronger and faster. But the process hadn't been a complete success, his eyes had fully morphed into the color of a Grimm's, and whenever he saw the world through them it sent the latent bile in him into overdrive, leaving him with uncontrollable rage and strength. In this form Adam was little more than an insane beast.

Adam drew his blade quickly, sending out a shockwave of energy and destroying a number of false Blake's. His Aura appeared around him giving an extra layer of horror onto him. It appeared as if his entire body was caught up in a blood red fire, which fit the demonic style he now used. Before he had been calm and controlled, but without the visor suppressing him he was a beast, one whose every move contained more power than Blake could hope to fight against. Eventually out of blind luck the demonic Adam brought his blade down on her, forcing her to block it. "Found you!" he kicked her hard in the stomach, sending her back a few feet. "And now I kill you!" he tilted his head as if confused. "Do we kill Blake?" he tilted his head the other way. "Of course I kill Blake, I kill everything!" he slashed at her fast and furious, madly swinging his blade with a speed that almost matched Ruby's. "Death all around!"

Blake managed to land a few blows on him during his assault, but being in pain no longer mattered to Adam, he was too far gone by this point to even feel the cuts Blake managed to land. "Adam please, don't do this!" Blake pleaded with him, trying to reach out to the boy that protected her growing up that she knew was still inside him.

But her voice fell on deaf ears, and soon Adam had managed to knock her sheath and blade from her hand, placing his sword against her throat. "Die traitor!" Adam began to press forward but stopped.

A cold chill went through the air as all warmth was pulled from the summer night. Adam fell back holding his head in pain. "W..what is this?" he asked as his Aura began to disappear.

Blake felt the same chill followed by a massive spike of pain in her head. "It feels like...voices" she shuttered. "So many of them at once"

Adam saw her in pain and managed to crawl over to her and take her hand, some part of his old nature coming to the surface as the darkness in his mind was overpowered by the pain. "It will be okay...I will…" he passed out before he could finish.

Blake turned her eyes to the club, in which she saw a fog of pure black covering it. She wanted to move, to go help her friends. But the pain in her mind and the coldness of the street forced her to pass out, leaving her and Adam holding hands and asleep on the street.

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Authors Note: Such mystery! Thanks to everyone who follows and likes this story despite my shitty writing. Hopefully we don't have such a long break between this chapter and Roman vs. Weiss, but I am a slave to my brain and such. Anyway remember to drop a review/comment on the story, those always make my day. Catch you guys next time!


	10. Light vs Dark: Mastermind vs Genius

Roman finally stopped running when he knew there was enough room between him and the rest of the fights going on around him to allow for his own fighting style to not be horribly restricted. He quickly scanned the area to make sure that no one else would be interupting the fight between him and the heiress with the rapier. Crimson and the two brats were still stuck in that fire arena, the twins would keep sugar high and mr. serious busy. Jaune could hold on his own against a single enemy without a problem, and Adam and Blake had enough baggage to fill an airship, so their fight would most likely drag on for quite some time. "So then Snowflake looks like its just you and me" he took off his hat and gave the girl a mocking bow.

"Not for long" Weiss paused a few feet from Roman and quickly spun the chamber on Myrtenaster until it clicked to confirm that Burn was set as the main power.

"Oh no you are going to shoot fire at me" Roman smiled and put the back of the hand holding the hidden cane blade against his forehead. "Mercy be given, whatever shall I do?"

Weiss hesitated at the mans insane ramblings. She had encountered many things when pointed her blade at another person. Fear, anger, even a laugh when it had been done as a jest, but never had she encountered someone who made such a joke over something so serious. "What are you playing at?" she asked firmly.

Roman spun around the now headless cane body above his head with a small whistle. "Me? Play?" he laughed a bit and struck the body of the cane onto the ground. "Why my dear Snowflake a man as serious as myself would never play." he gave a false cough as if he were clearing his throat. "In each Schnee company Dust crystal there are hundreds of small nanomachines that are suppose to just be used to keep track of where it is sold, how it is used, and other things such as that"

Weiss lifted an eyebrow. "Everyone knows about that, it isn't exactly a secret you trash" she didn't know where he was going with this, but something told her it wasn't good.

"What people tend not too know" he continued as if she had never interjected. "Is that the nanomachines also can be used to depower the crystal by drawing in their energy. Of course these devices are only typically held by board members of the Schnee company. Not even police have the privilege of having them" Roman let go of his cane and reached into his coat, pulling out a small box shaped device. "Why… whats this?" he pressed the button on top of if and the Dust crystals inside Myrtenaster turned dull grey. "This appears to be the exact device which I just spoke of!" he put the device back in his pocket. "Such a coincidence I should just so happen to have something like that"

Weiss felt herself go cold as she looked down at the now colorless gems. "How… you shouldn't have something like that" she had known about the emergency shutdown devices for quite some time, she had one of her own that she had left back at the school. Each one was suppose to be DNA encoded to the person it had been given too, to make sure no one tried to steal it.

"Oh, funny story actually" he put his hand on his cane and leaned forward. "You see back when me and your father started working together I told him that I would want one as insurance, he disagreed with me asking, so I blew up his summer home!" Roman laughed and then paused. "Or was it his winter home, I swear you rich people and your multiple homes,"

Weiss was getting angry now, not something that was extremely rare, but all the same. "My family would never work with such a vile lowlife as yourself!"

"Vile? Lowlife?" Roman put a hand to his mouth. "Me?" he moved his hand to show a wide grin on his face. "Yeah I suppose that is fair, but seriously Snowflake me and your father have been working together since you were…" he looked her up and down and put his hand a few feet from the ground. "About this big"

The young heiress's blood turned cold. This wasn't possible, her father would never work with someone like Roman Torchwick. Despite his moral failings he would never sink so low as to work with criminal scum.

Would he?

"You're lying" Weiss hissed at the criminal mastermind.

"No...I'm not" Roman's voice dropped from its playful tone to a more serious one. "Me and your father have been working together for a number of years, and want a real kicker?" Roman leaned forward and gave a stage whisper toward her. "We both run White Fang"

Weiss felt the world stop around her. "That is…"

"A lie?" Roman shook his head. "Sorry princess but it is the gospel truth" a small light danced along his eyes. "Tell me, do you know the exact point in which White Fang turned violent?"

_Twelve years ago…_ she thought in her mind. Twelve years since the first attacks, since board members starting disappearing… board members that might have spoken a bit out of turns in meetings… no it couldn't be true, her father wouldn't do that…

"If you guessed twelve years ago then give yourself a big pat on the back" He sighed dramatically. "Two years after I left Beacon and joined Crimson"

"Y...you were a hunter?" Weiss was almost as shocked by this as she was by the previous revelations.

"Yep, I was even on the best team in the entire school, big names I am sure you will recognize." he raised his hand and held up four fingers. "Divine Punishment Goodwitch" one finger dropped. "Grand Wizard Ozpin" another finger fell. "Grand Eye Torchwick" one final finger was raised. "Holy Light… Arcangel…" his voice fell to a whisper on the last one.

"T..they don't give Hunters titles until the third year" Weiss suddenly realized that if the man in front of her was telling the truth then she might be in serious danger. He was way above her own fighting class.

"True, horribly boring ceremony" Roman sighed and kicked the side of his cane, sending it spinning into the air and catching it above his head. "Now then Snowflake, it seems that I have told you a bit too much, meaning now you have to die"

Weiss felt her heart race as panic set in. Was she really strong enough, good enough to take down someone who had done that much?

Roman disappeared in a flash and appeared in front of her, swinging down his short cane blade at her. Weiss just barely reacted in time, blocking the strike and leaping back a few feet. "Your reaction times aren't bad, your mother might actually be proud of you… except you know shes dead, kind of hard to feel anything when you are worm food"

Weiss froze at the mention of her mother. Ten years ago she had been caught in a White Fang attack, killed mercilessly by them and set at the front of the mansion. Except White Fang as she knew it didn't exist… which meant. "No…"

"Oh right probably shouldn't have mentioned that, isn't hard to put two and two together on that one" Roman shook his head. "Darn shame about her, but she found out what me and your dad were up too, had to be one way or the other"

The young huntress began to shake with fury. "Y..you monster" her hand gripped the handle of Myrtenaster tight.

"I've been called worse" Roman said with a shake of his head. "Just surrender and I can make this qu…" he paused as the young woman ejected the full chamber of Dust crystals from her weapon. "And whats this then?"

"I...am going to kill you" Weiss moved her arm in front of her, putting her hand palm up. A glowing glyph appeared above the hand, and from it dropped a new chamber filled with crystals. She quickly loaded it into place and took a stance.

"Haven't we been over this?" Roman placed the cane down again and pulled out the device, pressing the button. Except this time the Dust didn't drain out of the solid crystal. "What...the hell?"

"My own special blend, I made it in class and found that it was even more potent than my families special brand" Weiss gave him a cold glare. "Whats your answer to that?"

Roman put the device away and looked at the girl. "So… the rumors are true after all" he shook his head in amazement. There was a legend that in the Schnee family genes there ran a trait of pure genius. The trait could disappear for entire generations, but when it arose it did so spectacularly. Those who possessed it were said to be some of the most dangerous people in the entire world. "The Schnee family genius runs through your veins"

Weiss shook her head. "That is just a myth, what I do is pure skill" she moved her hand through the air as if she were drawing something, and suddenly a symbol appeared under her. "Now then, I suppose I can grant even trash like you an amazing show before I take you out" the symbol grew smaller under her, and suddenly all along her skin a multitude of glyphs took form.

Roman took a step back and raised his weapons, just in time to see the girl vanish from where she was standing. It was only thanks to his Semblance, which allowed his to feel everything within a limited range and react to it without thought, that he managed to bring up his cane in time to block the strike from the white haired girl. Even with the block through pain ran through his arm. The girl might be small, but her strike landed with the force of an Ursa. Just as he blocked the first strike he detected another from his left, blocking it with his blade. It continued like that, him blocking and on the defensive while she rained blows on him from every direction. Eventually she paused the assault and appeared again standing a few feet away. "Tired yet?" she asked in a mocking tone.

Roman strove to catch his breath and looked down at his weapons. His cane had shattered under the assault, so he threw it aside with a look of disdain. His blade was still strong, but it wouldn't help him much against her speed. "How… are ...you...doing that!"

She shook her head. "Rather easily, you see I carefully studied my teammates Semblances, and then figured out how I could copy them using Dust and my own Glyphs." when used her free hand to wave at her body. "I figured out that if I placed a special set of Glyphs around my body and charged them with my special Dust in this load then I could create watered down versions of their best traits"

"The amount of on the spot calculations for every variable… that isn't something a human can do" Roman was starting to get seriously pissed off.

"Hm, maybe not for most people, and especially not for garbage like you" she began to run around the orange haired gang leader with a smirk. "But for me… simple" all around him after images began to appear as she ran, making him lose sight of where she was. Suddenly her blade began to glow white, leaving a trail of glowing luminance in her path.

Roman did his best to follow her, but he had been forced to turn off his Semblance in order to conserve enough Aura to protect himself. "This is…"

All at once the girl charged at him, along with the after images. "The end" Weiss landed a blow and left a cut along the madmans side. She took a deep breath and laid her hand on her rapier. "Freeze"

All at once a massive prison of ice formed all around Roman, entrapping him and freezing his entire body. Weiss let out a tired breath and let her Glyph armor fall. That battle and the previous one had tired her out, but maybe she could assist one of her team mates through just ranged attacks. She was about to walk away when she heard a sound that should have been impossible. The sound of ice cracking.

She turned toward the massive column of ice and watched as hundreds of cracks began to appear along it. All at once the ice shattered, leaving Roman Torchwick at the center of it as small snowflakes began to fall. "Well… it appears I need to stop holding back as well." his hat was tipped in such a way that his face was impossible to see. But there was one obvious thing that was different about him, a pitch black Aura that now covered his entire body.

"That… what?" Weiss took her stance once more and looked at the man.

Roman reached a hand up to his hat, a hand that was now pure black and had five very dangerous looking claws on the end of each finger. With a gentle push Roman moved the hat atop his head, revealing a horrific sight. Roman's face was half human, and half...Grimm. In place of a human eye on one side there was now a wide red eye, and half of his mouth was nothing by razor sharp teeth. "What do you think?" he asked in a voice that now boomed with energy. "Don't get to break out this form very often, you might even consider it a bit of an honor" he ran at the young heiress and grabbed Myrtenaster in his Grimm hand, using his other arm to deliver a powerful blow to Weiss's face.

Weiss tumbled for a bit before she managed to stop and pull herself up, cleaning a small trail of blood that ran from her nose. "Monster" she said under her breath.

"Eh maybe" he tossed up her weapon and tested its weight. "In this form I could easily beat any human in terms of skill or power"

Weiss created her symbol to reform the Glyph armor around herself and tried to bind the symbols against herself again. But the symbol disappeared from under her when she tried to do it. Just using that ability once was draining on her Aura, she had never needed to do it twice.

Before she could react Roman was in front of her, delivering a powerful kick to her stomach and knocking her over. Before she could move the half Grimm monster put his foot on her stomach, hrad. "This is the part where you die" he raised the weapon up, aiming the tip for her forehead.

Weiss looked up at her weapon, feeling fear flow through her as she saw the end of her life before her eyes.

But suddenly Roman froze in place, his body shaking. The blade fell out of his hands, landing harmlessly to the side of Weiss. The room became quickly covered in a dark fog which seemed to absorb any and all light around it. "Damn it kid you weren't suppose to advance to this stage yet" Roman's human arm grabbed at his Grimm one, and he fell to the ground in pain. "Damn it… this much dark energy… can't…" Roman collapsed fully on the ground.

Weiss wanted to move, but just as whatever this fog was had drained Roman she felt the same effects. It was cold, all consuming, evil. And even through she wanted nothing more than to pick up her blade and drive it into the monster a few feet away she couldn't fight the sudden wave of unconsciousness that overwhelmed her.

* * *

Authors Note: Well that was exciting… I hope. So you know the deal guys, comments and reviews only increase my desire to put out the next chapter for you. Silence is an authors worst motivator after all. Catch you guys on the next update.


	11. Q & A 1

Hello and welcome to Q & A corner with Kingxana0! Today in honor of the RWBY season finale I will be answering all of the PM's filled with questions about the story and other such things like that. Names will be kept anon because that is how I roll, plus shout outs aren't things I tend to give other people unless I really get into their work, and I have had little free time lately.

Q: What are you planning to do about the fact that Crimson isn't actually named Crimson in the show?

A: This is a good question and a great point. I have chosen a way around this through, for you see Crimson is part of her title, and an alias she enjoys using due to her nature as a Witch, which will be explained in more detail when that chapter comes out. Her full title is Cinder the Crimson Witch.

Q: How long does it take to make a chapter of this story?

A: Well just writing it out is about 3-4 hours. Through I take a few days to fully imagine each scene in my head and more time for any editing I fell needs to be added afterward. Due to the busy schedule of a college student I have to work on this piece when I am not brain dead from school work, so it can take a bit of time.

Q: Have you gotten any major backlash from turning Jaune's character into a killer and evil guy?

A: No actually. One of the many things I love about the RWBY fandom is that they are pretty accepting of all kinds of stories, and if they don't like it just because they don't then you don't normally get a face full of their opinion on it. This is not saying I don't like a honest critic, I just don't like it when someone informs me that they don't like a work because they don't like it. That doesn't give me anyway to help them enjoy it other then changing everything for their personal enjoyment, which would suck for the others who like it as it is now.

Q: What made you make this story?

A: I...don't really know how to answer this one. It just kind of came to me after I watched Cardin blackmail Jaune. Lots of people were talking about breaking his legs and such, and I just wondered 'but what if Jaune killed him'. I took this thought and created an entire AU with it in about a day. The loads of Lore and Myth that you have seen tidbits of already will be coming into play soon enough.

Q: Can *insert your original character here* be in your story at some point?

A: Um... this is a really tricky question. While I would be more then happy to have your OC's be in this story (trust me I wish I had asked for fanmade villains instead of having the two gauntlet brothers in the next chapter) there are certain issues with that. Such as you know me writing your OC's. I am not willing to go back and rewrite an entire chapter because you don't like how I had your OC's do things. If you can be cool about it and you really want them to show up and they can fit into the setting and story that will be happening after the Light vs. Dark storyline ends then yeah more then happy to. But you need to realize that I can't have people reading over my shoulder when I do this and such.

Q: Have you worked on other fanfiction before this?

A: Yes, but it was really shitty and done when I was still in highschool. Most of it was trashed but I still have a really shitty Scott Pilgrim fanfiction sitting around that I will never finish. This is the first project I am legitimately proud of in terms of fanfiction.

Q: Hey I have seen this story on tumblr too, is someone stealing your work?

A: No, this story started out on tumblr actually on a blog called fallenfromthearc. I still post every chapter there as well, through normally after I post it on . That is why when this story launched there were about 6 chapters put out at once.

Q: Do you like other Roosterteeth works or just RWBY?

A: I am a fan of the latter seasons of RvB, especially the Freelancer stuff. I have a really horrible taste when it comes to comedy and I could never get into it before there were all of these cool things happening in the story in terms of fighting and such. I am also a huge fan of Achievement Hunter and most properties owned by Roosterteeth.

Q: How come you don't put a disclaimer before every chapter?

A: Because if I owned RWBY then this shit would be cannon and you would get to see Jaune dressed in demon armor stab Pyrrha in a dream sequence. You can all thank your assorted deities that Monty Oum isn't handing out RWBY that easily.

Okay guys thats all I got for today. This isn't that last Q & A that I will do, so remember to send in your messages. I will be working on Ren and Nora vs. the Twins but it will take more time then the others. While I have a pretty good grasp on the other people in this story Ren and Nora are the ones I find hardest to grasp, that and the people they are fighting really aren't too interesting in terms of abilities. They are literally the two people that weren't just faceless goons Roman could fine when he got the emergency signal. Don't worry the fight will still be interesting (or I will die trying to make it so) but it is just going to take more time.

Love all my followers, readers, and favoritiers. Yeah that last one wasn't a word but sue me. Remember to keep leaving comments and tell all your friends about the story. The comments and favorites feed my ever growing power.


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